The Manning family has a new member after a puppy was rescued from an abusive existence at a Mississippi fair. (AP)

If anthem controversy and confusing helmet rules are sapping your enthusiasm for NFL football, here’s a heartwarming story from one of the game’s beloved figures.

Peyton Manning’s family has adopted a puppy rescued from a abusive Mississippi carnival worker.

The story, told in detail by Colts.com, started with animal-rescue worker Elizabeth “Pippa” Jackson attending last week’s Neshoba County Fair near her home in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Girl reportedly bought puppy from carnival worker for $100

Jackson told Colts.com that she spotted a girl carrying a sickly puppy around the carnival. When she inquired, the girl told her that she had bought the flea-ridden puppy for $100 from a carnival worker who was keeping it in a garbage bag.

The girl told Jackson that her grandmother wouldn’t let her keep the dog when Jackson offered to take the puppy in.

“She turned over the puppy to me and it still had fleas on it,” Jackson told Colts.com. “It took me four more baths to get all the fleas off the poor baby. The puppy was getting kind of weak and limp and it was very dehydrated.”

Peyton Manning’s Mississippi neighbors fostered abused puppy

Jackson’s cousin, Carolyn Yates Voyles, fostered the puppy. Voyles’ also happens to be a neighbor of the Mannings, who live in Denver, but have a cabin in Mississippi that they frequent.

Jackson said that Manning’s wife Ashley spotted their daughter Mosley playing with the puppy while visiting with Voyles’ sons and asked if they could adopt it.